See the 10 answer words debuted by Bruce Sutphin.
S | A | N | T | A | N | A | N | E | T | F | L | I | X | |
C | H | U | N | N | E | L | O | X | I | D | A | T | E | |
A | I | R | T | A | X | I | S | P | R | A | Y | E | R | |
L | T | S | G | U | M | S | H | O | E | A | M | O | ||
D | U | E | T | S | O | L | O | S | T | W | I | X | ||
E | N | R | O | N | N | O | W | G | R | A | Z | E | ||
D | A | Y | L | I | L | Y | S | P | L | A | Y | E | D | |
K | E | Y | D | I | P | |||||||||
E | T | A | I | L | E | D | I | Q | T | E | S | T | S | |
N | O | T | E | S | I | N | C | Z | Z | T | O | P | ||
C | O | E | N | I | V | I | E | S | E | U | R | E | ||
A | S | I | A | M | O | E | B | A | S | N | N | E | ||
M | O | N | S | T | E | R | A | M | I | S | T | A | D | |
P | O | T | O | M | A | C | T | O | R | P | E | D | O | |
S | N | O | C | O | N | E | H | A | I | R | D | O | S |
Bruce's solo debut! I met Bruce two years ago at the ACPT and drank a cold one with him. Good guy; fun time hanging out.
Themeless grids featuring 7-letter entries are rare, but this one goes all-out with 36 of them. Constructors usually depend on 8+ letter entries for snazziness because so many 7-letter (or shorter) entries have been used many times before. It's tough to find debut or "wow factor" 7-letter entries but Bruce succeeds today. AHI TUNA is one of those "why the heck don't I have that on my list?" answers, as is DAY LILY. By the way, NYT debut entries are listed in red in the answers below.
There's a lot of other good stuff in the grid, especially NETFLIX with its fantastic clue. IQ TESTS and ICE BATH are quite nice too, the clue to the latter leading me to think of cryonics, trying to figure out how they froze Walt Disney's head. Although there's not a ton of "wow" entries, Bruce spices up his grid by going the Scrabbly route, tossing in eight instances of the big four (J, Q, X, Z). Not an easy feat.
There's a price to pay for all the good stuff though, in the quality of the three-letter entries. There are 16 of them today, higher than average for a themeless, and that's not usually an issue if they're all solid words, but NNE, SPR, SOC, ASI, LTS, NIE ding the puzzle by collectively becoming noticeable.
Finally, cool grid, exhibiting "super-symmetry", i.e. you can turn it 90 degrees and the black square pattern remains the same. Not a lot of puzzles exhibit this, and it adds an aesthetically pleasing visual element. All in all, a nice Friday.
I | N | S | T | A | M | A | T | I | C | T | H | A | N | |
D | O | O | R | T | O | D | O | O | R | R | E | P | O | |
I | M | P | A | T | I | E | N | C | E | Y | A | P | S | |
G | E | S | I | S | L | E | D | E | F | T | L | Y | ||
T | R | E | E | R | E | W | O | V | E | |||||
A | G | R | E | E | S | S | E | N | O | R | I | T | A | |
G | O | O | N | S | S | P | E | C | K | S | I | P | ||
A | T | T | N | S | T | I | L | E | T | I | N | T | ||
S | H | O | A | P | R | E | S | R | E | O | I | L | ||
P | A | R | A | L | L | E | L | T | E | E | N | S | Y | |
M | O | C | K | U | P | M | E | D | S | |||||
E | C | O | C | A | R | D | O | F | F | Z | I | P | ||
S | I | T | U | G | U | I | L | L | O | T | I | N | E | |
S | T | E | S | E | A | S | T | O | R | A | N | G | E | |
E | Y | R | E | S | E | C | O | N | D | G | E | A | R |
L | A | P | D | A | R | A | B | O | F | F | E | R | ||
A | R | E | A | R | E | N | O | R | A | L | L | Y | ||
W | I | N | D | I | N | G | T | O | A | C | L | O | S | E |
S | A | N | D | S | I | Z | Z | Y | S | P | A | S | ||
Y | E | A | S | E | R | I | E | |||||||
I | M | H | O | S | T | O | R | E | F | R | O | N | T | |
M | A | I | S | E | E | K | S | N | I | P | E | R | ||
A | R | T | I | E | R | E | W | O | B | A | M | A | ||
P | I | E | C | E | S | M | E | A | T | R | E | P | ||
C | O | M | E | D | Y | G | O | L | D | E | T | A | S | |
T | Y | R | A | L | A | I | D | |||||||
O | S | L | O | I | Z | O | D | V | W | B | U | S | ||
F | O | U | N | T | A | I | N | O | F | Y | O | U | T | H |
F | U | N | G | I | N | E | N | E | O | R | N | O | ||
S | P | A | S | M | G | L | E | E | D | Y | E | D |